138 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



" Do you mean to say," he at last asked gravely, 

 " do you mean to say that we are in any danger 1 " 



" Danger ! " I said, " do you think there is much 

 safety to be found in a craft like this, out on the 

 Indian Ocean, with a gale blowing ? " 



" Out on the ocean ! " here his face fell with the 

 expression of a dawning apprehension ; " what have 

 we to do with the ocean 1 " 



" How are we to keep out of it 1 Our last chance 

 was to get her round and run her on the reef, a 

 poor chance, but all that we could dream of. You 

 saw me try her just now, and saw that it was im- 

 possible." 



" Then you mean to say nothing can prevent our 

 drifting out to sea 1 " My silence and dejection gave 

 him the sorrowful answer. 



Poor Hamilton ! he was a brave enough fellow 

 in his way, and willing to stand any risk for the good 

 of the service, this was all in the way of business, 

 and he felt it to be right enough, but the idea of 

 being drowned on a picnic excursion seemed to strike 

 him as something altogether out of his way. I will 

 not say that he was afraid on the occasion, because I 

 do not believe he would admit the influence of fear. 

 But he gave me the idea of a man labouring under the 

 strangeness of an inadmissible proposition. It seemed 

 as though a strong sense of injured innocence were 

 mixed with his apprehensions, as if he felt himself to 

 have been done and ill-treated. 



